“Hurry,” I gasped, forcing my trembling legs to move faster.“We have to—“
The sound of splintering wood cut through the night, followed immediately by a scream—high and terrified, unmistakably human.We were out of time.
Wereachedthefarmhouseas Ruth’s body crashed through the kitchen door, the wood splintering.Rebecca followed so close behind they moved almost as one creature, both driven by the same terrible purpose.Through the destroyed doorway, I saw them all—a young couple clutching three children, the smallest no more than four, pressing themselves against the far wall as though they might disappear into it.
I moved without thinking, my weakened body finding reserves of strength I didn’t know remained.I crashed into Ruth just as she lunged for the youngest child, our bodies colliding with enough force to send us both sprawling across the kitchen floor.Pots clattered from their hooks, and somewhere glass shattered.
Ruth turned on me with a snarl.Her eyes had gone completely black, the whites consumed by dilated pupils that saw nothing but prey.She didn’t recognize me.In that moment, she didn’t recognize anything beyond her thirst.
“Look at me,” I commanded, pinning her wrists to the floor though she thrashed with strength that nearly matched my own.“Ruth, look at me.Remember who you are.”
She snapped at my face, teeth fully extended, saliva mixed with blood dripping from her fangs.Behind us, I heard Desiderius struggling with Rebecca, the crash of furniture overturning, more glass breaking.The children were sobbing, high-pitched wails that made the hunger in my own throat burn hotter.
I reached for the sire bond, that connection I’d barely learned to feel, and pulled on it with everything I had.It was like grasping a live wire—painful, electric, overwhelming.But I held on, forcing my will through that connection into Ruth’s fractured mind.
“Remember,” I gasped, using the bond to push images at her—Father O’Malley’s gentle face, the taste of consecrated wine, the peace that came after receiving the Eucharist.“Remember who you were before this hunger.Remember your humanity.”
For a moment, nothing changed.Ruth continued to thrash beneath me, her strength threatening to break my grip.But then something flickered in those black eyes—a spark of recognition, of horror at what she’d almost done.The snarl faded from her face, replaced by an expression of such anguish I nearly released her.
“Alice?”Her voice came out broken, barely human.“Oh God, what did I—the children—“
“You didn’t hurt them,” I assured her, though keeping her pinned still required most of my strength.“But you need to control yourself.Can you do that?”
She nodded frantically, tears of blood beginning to streak down her cheeks.“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.The hunger, it just—I couldn’t—“
“I know.”And I did know.The same hunger gnawed at me, made worse by the proximity to so much warm, living blood.
The father had found a fireplace poker somewhere, brandishing it at us with shaking hands.His wife had gathered the children behind her, trying to shield them with her own body.
“Please,” the mother whispered, her voice barely audible over the children’s crying.“Please don’t hurt them.Take me, but don’t—“
“No one’s taking anyone,” Desiderius said firmly.He had Rebecca completely immobilized, one arm wrapped around her throat, the other pinning her arms behind her back.She’d gone limp in his grip, though whether from exhaustion or submission I couldn’t tell.“Alice, get them outside.Now.”
I hauled Ruth to her feet, maintaining my grip on her arm in case the blood-frenzy returned.She came willingly enough, her head hanging in shame, mumbling apologies that the family couldn’t understand through their terror.I dragged her through the ruined doorway into the chilly night air, away from the warm scent of blood that made rational thought nearly impossible.
“Sit,” I commanded, pushing Ruth to the ground.She collapsed immediately, curling into herself.Rebecca joined her when Desiderius deposited her beside her companion.They huddled together like broken dolls, the hunger momentarily shocked out of them by the horror of what they’d nearly done.
Desiderius turned back toward the house.“Keep them here.I’ll handle the family.”
“Handle them?”Alarm spiked through me.“You’re not going to—“
“Harm them?No.”He paused at the threshold.“But they’ve seen too much.Their memories need...adjustment.”
Before I could ask what he meant, he’d disappeared back inside.I heard his voice, low and rhythmic, speaking words I couldn’t make out.The family’s sounds of distress gradually faded, replaced by something like calm.It went on for several minutes while I stood guard over Ruth and Rebecca.
“My book!”Panic flooded over me.“I must’ve dropped it when—“
When Desiderius emerged, my anxiety faded.He’d grabbed my book from the floor.“They’ll remember a break-in,” he said as he handed me what was mine.“Desperate vagabonds who fled when the father threatened them with the poker.Nothing more.”
“You can alter memories?”The revelation stunned me.“How long have you been able to do that?”
“Longer than you’ve been dead or alive.”He studied Ruth and Rebecca’s huddled forms with something that might have been pity.“It’s not a common gift among our kind.It requires age, practice, and a certain...let’s just say that occasionally, when a vampire feeds, he can gain something from the blood, something unique.There are theories about it, but no one really knows how it works.”
It wasn’t a satisfactory answer, but it would have to do.For now.
We walked back to the shelter in silence, Ruth and Rebecca trailing behind us like scolded children.Their blood frenzy had broken, but I could feel through our bond that the hunger remained, coiled and waiting.It would return stronger than before unless we found a solution.
The shelter felt smaller when we returned to it, the walls pressing in.Ruth and Rebecca collapsed in the corner where they’d spent the last four nights, clinging to each other as though physical contact might prevent another loss of control.
